State planning upgrades, including new beds, for Springfield hotel

The state of Illinois will spend $275,000 to spruce up the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel & Conference Center in downtown Springfield in preparation for selling it at auction later this year.

Doug Finke

The state of Illinois will spend $275,000 to spruce up the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel & Conference Center in downtown Springfield in preparation for selling it at auction later this year.

State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias said Thursday $170,000 will pay to replace box springs, mattresses and pillows in 282 of the hotel’s 315 rooms. Bedding was replaced in the other rooms earlier this year.

“By far the most common complaint guests have about the hotel is that the mattresses are uncomfortable,” Giannoulias said in a written statement. “Hotels need to provide guests with a good night’s sleep, so having decent mattresses is an essential improvement. It’s also an expenditure that will enhance the value of the hotel.”

Giannoulias spokeswoman Sara Wojcicki said managers hired by the state last year to operate the hotel found that some mattresses were 25 years old. Industry standards call for them to be replaced every five to seven years, she said.

The new bedding was tops on a list of 21 improvements recommended to improve the hotel’s value.

The state also plans to replace an air-conditioning unit, install new security cameras, update computer systems and repair damaged floors and ceilings. About $6,000 will be spent on landscaping at Sixth and Adams streets to improve the hotel’s “curb appeal.”

Money for the work will come from the $1.2 million in profit shown by the hotel since the state appointed an outside firm to run it in 2007.

Wojcicki said the $270,000 in improvements is all that is planned for now. The state does not want to spend money on changes that may not be acceptable to a buyer from a hotel chain.

A timetable for the sale has not been set.

Doug Finke can be reached at (217) 788-1527 or doug.finke@sj-r.com.

Facts box

The President Abraham Lincoln Hotel & Conference Center, 701 E. Adams St., was built with the help of a $15.5 million state-backed loan issued in 1983. More than 80 individual investors also put money into the hotel, including influential Republican Bill Cellini of Springfield.

The loan was restructured twice, the last time in 1990. The hotel, formerly the Renaissance Springfield, made only two payments in 10 years and none since 2002.

A Cook County judge declared the loan in default in 2006, and a receiver was appointed in March of 2007. The state of Illinois took possession in March. At the time, the hotel owners owed $30 million in unpaid principal and interest.

The hotel, now operated by a contracted management company, has about 315 rooms.

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